Since that time, Israel has pulled out of Gaza, leaving the squabling Palestinian militant factions vying for power with their own internal Violent stuggle, and America is deeply involved in a quagmire, billed as a shadowy war on terrorism. As a proud member of my high school class of 1984, we were required to read the book by George Orwell. I wish our President would read, the news, books, scholastic articles, policy papers, and not make his decisions via faith and gut instinct.

Ben the righteous, Ben the protector of the weak, poor, and uninformed, Ben the man with more angst than Howard Dean after losing the Iowa Primary, wants everyone to know about his experience with trooper R.J. Woods of the Washington State Patrol.

A few young gentlemen purporting to be from Scarsdale High School have started calling me at my home number to inform me that they have formed a Beard club, which they said was one of the most popular on campus. They said they had admired some of the beard pictures I had put on the web, and asked for a “shout out.”

Last week, after receiving a few e-mails I dismissed as junk mail without really reading, two of their “officers”; purported to be Brett Schneider, and Dave ?, called me several times on Thursday and Friday, and one time they called during their club meeting meeting on Friday afternoon (around noon Pacific [UTC -8]) just to leave me a “shout out” on my home answering machine.

Later, on Saturday Night, I received numerous “drunk-dialing” calls from them, with some of what they tried to say completely unintelligible, due to loud background noise.

Below are a couple of my wicked beard pics that inspire awe.

Other great beards from my Pictures collection

And finally, for your enjoyment, a more modern
professional look for me (St. Patrick’s Day 2005)

I’ll probably call the principal of their school on Monday to see if in fact, there is a beard club, and what it’s mission is. (I’m putting odds at about 60% *for*). I won’t get anyone in trouble; no reason for that. My friend Ben suggested some mischief we might perform, but they seemed like nice enough kids, even though I’m still feeling that their intentions, and motivation are a little bit ambiguous. In anycase, this post is your shoutout guys.

Update: I called SHS and was trasferred to Student Governance manager, Neil Ginsburg, who has yet to return my call. I’ll try again tomorrow. FYI, I support this type of student spiritedness, which should be encouraged while still young enough to have fun.